Bank holiday travel plans derailed by track repairs

Getaway plans for May’s two bank holiday weekends will be disrupted by rail engineering work.

Government-owned Network Rail will carry out more than 820 projects over the first and last weekends of the month.

the organisation says it schedules work for bank holidays as there are fewer passengers than normal on those days.

Between May 5 and 7 Liverpool’s mainline services will be reduced, with some replaced by buses or diverted via Manchester.

Significant work in the south of Scotland between Glasgow and edinburgh means east Coast services will start and end at edinburgh, and west Coast trains will not run north of Lancaster or Oxenholme in the Lake District.

Rail connections to Britain’s busiest airport, Heathrow, from London Paddington will be severed on May 6.

Signalling improvements at Birmingham New Street on May 26 and 27 mean trains between London euston and Birmingham will be replaced by buses between Birmingham and Coventry.

a rail replacement bus service will also be in place between Ingatestone and Billericay in essex and London Liverpool Street over the second three-day weekend of the month.

trains between Didcot and Chippenham and Bristol Parkway will be disrupted due to electrification work.

Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne said: ‘this May, thousands of rail workers will be working rond the clock to deliver crucial upgrades to the rail network as part of our railway upgrade plan.

‘this huge investment programme will provide faster, better services and help relieve overcrowding to respond to the huge growth on Britain’s railways.

‘while most of the network is open for business as usual, some routes are heavily affected and so we strongly advise passengers to plan ahead this May.’

anthony Smith, chief executive of watchdog transport Focus, said: ‘Passengers understand that welcome improvements will mean some disruption, but the key thing they need is plenty of information before, during and after.

‘they will need to know how their journeys are affected and what their choices are. It will also be important to have plenty of staff on hand during the disruption, to guide passengers and answer any questions.’